IC 1396 - The Elephant's Trunk - Esprit 150 & 460ex

[Tim]

Skywatcher Esprit Pro 150 teamed up with Atik 460ex and Baader narrowband filters.

I don't have a massive amount of data for this, especially in S2 and Oiii, but wanted to move on to another target as I have just acquired a colour 460ex.

The Esprit delivers really crisp images, really sharp edges to the bright parts of these emission nebulae, and this is something I have been looking for for some time. As a die hard reflector fan I have to grudgingly admit that I actually prefer imaging with this refractor at this focal length. I'm really looking forward to using the 150 with the 460ex OSC, I think they will be nicely suited.

I'll upload the full size to astrobin later, but here's a 30pc preview for now, just a little murderated by the forum compression

Thanks for looking

Tim

[Epicycle]

Wow Tim, that's an amazing shot! What was the integration time?

E.

[Tim]

Details on Astrobin, but basically it is 17 hours of Ha (subs ranging from 1800 seconds to 8200 seconds, but mostly 3600secs), 8 hours of Oiii in 1800 secs, and just four hours of Sii in 1800 sec chunks.

Due to the unrewarding results from the S2 filters, these days I merge the Ha data with the S2 by about 30%, as the bright parts of the Sii match the Ha to some extent the results are reasonably accurate and save having to use half your life gathering Sii data

Cheers

[morimarty]

With an image of this quality Tim, i'ts no big suprise you've become a refractor convert Absolutely Fantastic!

[Epicycle]

Details on Astrobin, but basically it is 17 hours of Ha (subs ranging from 1800 seconds to 8200 seconds, but mostly 3600secs), 8 hours of Oiii in 1800 secs, and just four hours of Sii in 1800 sec chunks.

Due to the unrewarding results from the S2 filters, these days I merge the Ha data with the S2 by about 30%, as the bright parts of the Sii match the Ha to some extent the results are reasonably accurate and save having to use half your life gathering Sii data

Cheers

[Coco]

Phwaoh!! thats beautiful!

[Epicycle]

Thanks. The full resolution shot in astrobin is amazing as is the number of hours going into it! It was only a few months ago when I thought 4-5 hours was a lot...

cheers

E.

[Epicycle]

Ups, the quote got disconnected from my answer, apologies! (thanks Coco),

E.

[Tim]

Thanks :-) the good thing is, I have been asleep while this image has been gathered, I've been doing it between 1.30 and 4.30 am and controlling the obsy from a tablet in my bed

[farunj]

Wow!! Absolutely stunning image!! Amazing!

[Gina]

A stunning image with superb detail and lovely colour - great shot Tim

[StuartJPP]

Wow, I might as well give up now.

[Lars]

That is one great Picture Tim. I'm a real fan of mirror telescopes due to the price/light gathering ability, but the crispiness with that apo is definitely worth a few extra hours of imaging time./Lars

[cloudbuster]

lovely image tim....what more can i say!

[Daniel-K]

immense !

[RobH]

A corker of an image Tim, love the framing and colour, and thanks for the tip re. SII

Cheers

Rob

[Mr Bergman]

Absolutely stunningly detailed!

[MartinB]

Thanks :-) the good thing is, I have been asleep while this image has been gathered, I've been doing it between 1.30 and 4.30 am and controlling the obsy from a tablet in my bed

I don't think I'll try that I might not be very popular!

Beautiful image Tim. I love the faint wispy dusty stuff, great data and processing.

[Shibby]

Gorgeous version of the Trunk! I love the framing and you've balanced the colours very nicely, revealing all the details in an impressive way.